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Biographical entry Gentilli, Joseph Hefetz (1912 - 2002)

AO, FRMetS, FRGS

Born

13 March 1912San Daniele del Friuli, Italy

Died

8 August 2002Western Australia, Australia

Occupation

Climatologist and Geographer

Summary

Joseph Hefetz Gentilli was a key figure in Australian climatology and an equally capable geographer. Gentilli migrated to Australia as a war refugee in 1939 and soon gained employment as a lecturer in statistics at the University of Western Australia (1940). He remained at the University for over fifty years and was founder of its Department of Geography. Gentilli was one of the first to report on the Northwest Cloudbands which originate over the Indian Ocean and occasionally blow across Australia, sometimes bringing with them widespread rain and storms to the south. He also made some of the earliest studies of Western Australia's climate records looking for evidence of changes which may have influenced an increase in soil salinity (1952) and in 1977 was part of a world panel of climatologists who examined the phenomenon of climate change and its possible impacts. Joseph Gentilli published widely, in four different languages, and received many honours and awards including an appointment as a Commander Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He was also involved in many professional scientific bodies, was President of the Geographical Society of Western Australia and a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society (FRMetS) and the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS).